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When it comes to plating or cake design, I am a minimalist. There is something beautiful about simple lines and clean patterns. The cake bosses of the world may disagree, but to each his own. One of my biggest inspirations when it comes to line work is an artist by the name of Alvaro Ilizarbe (Freegums). While this video may be old, it is great way to see the power of lines.

I am always trying out new banana bread recipes, it is a breakfast classic. Out of all the recipes I have tried, I fell in love Dassana Amit’s recipe on Veg Recipes of India. This blog is an amazing place for vegetarian dishes that will satisfy any craving and I highly recommend you support them. After eating a few loaves, I decided to try my own take on Dassana Amit’s marvelous recipe.

As soon as the sun rises on Monday morning, I am smiling at the thought of visiting the farmers market. There is something special about connecting with the people that grow the food you are about to purchase. It is a practice I love to stress when I am picking up ingredients baking; produce and grains grow in New York. If you are around a market, stop by and treat yourself to a conversion and fresh produce.

When I was in culinary school I remember feeling so pressured during the cake mod. My main interest was bread because it involved a lot of hand skills and physical labor, but I was stuck making cakes for the next few weeks – the best challenge ever. In the beginning of the mod we were given very simple one to two step recipes – there was a recipe for a high ratio cake (pound cake) created by Chef Nick Malgieri that blew my mind. This is my take on Chef Nick Malgieri magnificent recipe and I hope you enjoy.

228g cake flour

228g sugar

3.5g baking powder

7g salt

170g butter (make sure to pieces are the same size = easier mixing)

175g almond milk

175g eggs

10g vanilla powder (extract will work here as well)

10g honey

lavender (I used about a half of handful, but how much or how little is up to you)

The steps you must follow are super simple: mix the red ingredients in one bowl until uniform, mix the black ingredients in a separate bowl, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, then fold in the lavender to the final mixture and sprinkle on top. Set your oven to 350 and let it bake for about 45-55 minutes.